Canada’s housing market is showing signs of emerging from its winter hibernation, according to the latest Real Estate Trends report released today by Scotia Economics. Nationally, home sales strengthened in both February and March, and preliminary reports suggest this firming trend continued in April.
The Real Estate Trends report notes that the rise in demand, combined with fewer new listings, has restored a better balance to the market. The national new-listings-to-sales ratio averaged 2.2 in March, down from a cycle peak of 2.7 last November (about 2.0 is considered balanced). Average home prices steadied in February and March, though were still down almost eight per cent year-over-year, or five per cent on a regional sales-weighted basis.
“These ‘green shoots’ are encouraging,” said Adrienne Warren, Senior Economist and Real Estate Market Specialist, Scotia Economics. “On an annualized basis, average home prices in early 2009 are running about six per cent below last year’s levels, while sales volumes are down 16 per cent. This is tracking a slightly better performance than our forecast for a 10 per cent decline in average prices this year, and at the low end of our forecast for a 15 per cent to 20 per cent drop in sales.
